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No cameras or lights were used. Instead two technologies were used to capture 3D images: Geometric Informatics and Velodyne LIDAR.

I have seen LIDAR (Laser recording cameras) used before to capture still images. I have seen these “cameras” used in Chicago for architecture projects. This is sort of like that and completely unlike it because this is now an art form and a cinema experience. Check it.

Here’s what the edited and polished video looks like.

Want to manipulate the data and cut your own version of the music video? Knock yourself out, Radiohead has released the data behind their video for “House of Cards” for you to manipulate. Visit http://code.google.com/radiohead for the code and information on how to manipulate it.

Speaking of data here is the latest Comscore data for May, 2008
Over 12 billion online videos were consumed for the month.
The highlights

1. 74 percent of the total U.S. Internet audience viewed online video.
2. The average online video viewer watched 228 minutes of video.
3. 82.2 million viewers watched 4.1 billion videos on YouTube.com (50.4 videos per viewer).
4. 54.8 million viewers watched 703 million videos on MySpace.com (12.8 videos per viewer).
5. 6.8 million viewers watched 88 million videos on Hulu.com (13.0 videos per viewer).
6. The duration of the average online video was 2.7 minutes.

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Even though I shoot with a Sony Z1U, recently I’ve been crooning over the A1U. My Z1U camera bag is so large, and so is the camera. I can’t take it everywhere with me. I’d love a camera and accessories that I could pack into a regular-sized backpack. Just because I could take it more places.

Angela Grant,
Multimedia producer, San Antonio Express-News on her blog, Newsvideographer.

Really small cameras can tell really big stories

I made this film for Angela and every video journalist like her who may need to convince their peers and their bosses of what is Web possible with a lightweight cam like the A1. Hopefully we can save a few backs and a few bucks out there.

The ability to tell really big stories with really small cameras is something that is fascinating to share with colleagues.

I work with editors-in-chief and their staff in many newsrooms and classrooms around the world to develop training and design new workflows and the challenge is to not only raise the quantity, the number of videos a newsroom is able to post online, but the quality of those stories as well.

Web video is an incredibly rich medium, one that print-trained journalists can succeed in.

This video was filmed with a Sony A1U, a Manfrotto monopod (With the tripod legs that stow inside the pole - Costs 114 Euros in Berlin) and the Rode NTG-1 shotgun mic. I don’t care much for the shotgun mic that comes bundled with the A1)

Oh, and for waterproofing the filming at the Falls I brought my small bicycling backpack, a two-cent plastic bag and a non-lubricated condom. That is not a typo. A waterproof condom is very handy for using shotgun microphones near water and even underwater. (Thanks to David Dunkley Gyimah for extending my underwater sound recordist knowledge. Always practical, he is.)

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Via Romenesko and Beet.tv comes this crisp interview with Chet Rhodes, Assistant Managing Editor for News Video at the washingtonpost.com. He is a former TV news guy and it is interesting to hear him say that up until now the paper has focused on training reporters and only now has issued five consumer-grade VJ cams to stills shooters.
I like how how he is thinking three years out and understands how Web VJ differs from broadcast TV news in many significant ways. What I don’t hear here in his comments is how the paper and Web site plan to integrate web video reportage from it’s users and readers. Certainly you can have a lot more Web video if you allow your audience to contribute to clips of burning cars on the freeway rather than dispatching staffers to cover these events exclusively. Thoughts? This works in other markets with extraordinary success (24sata in Zagreb, for example is full of reader-submitted video clips of such spot news events and has quadrupled its Web traffic over the last year)

Here’s to the Web VJ future in all of its rich story-telling and social narrative engagement potential.

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I am in Sweden leading a team of student VJs who will produce video reports in Gothenborg at the World Editors Forum. This film catches up with me as I make a short stop in Berlin. Includes scenes from recent stops in Paris, Berlin and Cairo and sets the stage for the World Newspaper Congress and World Editors Forum taking place in Goteborg. There are over 1,800 participants from 130 countries meeting here for the congress.

More videos from the Congress and editors forum

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Camp VJ Chicago has been a hit according to students and instructors who participated. Director of the J-School at Michigan State Jane Briggs-Bunting attended the fundamentals classes early in the week and blogged about she is leading the charge for her faculty to cross over as digital immigrants. Instructor and newsvideographer blogger, Angela Grant was enamored with her experiences with students, the Chicago venues and the work that Camp VJ students are able to produce in these two day classes. Her post says it all:

Camp videojournalism was huge success

She also posted shooting tips she used in her lectures in her Camp VJ Chicago entry.

“A Photographer’s Paradise”
Those are the words of Pulitzer-Prize winning photojournalist John H. White enthused when he describes the venue Visual Editors chose for the training classes. He speaks in the video above about how he came to learn the importance of seeing with his ears when making news videos.
The films that the students made here in Chicago demonstrate a wide variety of locations and subject matter.
Hopefully they will post them soon at the Camp JV site.

This is the first post I have been able to manage (I am the CampJV conference organizer) because ever since David Dunkley Gyimah arrived Tuesday evening we have been filming, cutting and interviewing non stop. He leaves in a few hours on a plane back to his home in the U.K. - but right now he is cutting the Camp VJ promo film with his laptop on my dining room table in Naperville. We documented our experiences in stills and video. David did a long sit down with Angela Grant and we filmed all day yesterday in the Loop, at North Avenue Beach, at the Quincy El station, underneath Wells, and in Millennium Park.

There will be more films and David, perfectionist that he is, will likely recut the promo once he is back home. This iterative practice is so fundamental to capturing the essence of what Web reportage really is. As close to real time as possible and, increasingly, done by fully-trained journalists. At Camp VJ that’s what we expect our of our instructors and our students.

And this is only the start of Camp VJ.
I have been cutting a short feature film that wraps up what the Camp VJ training brings to students and to their newsrooms. So look for that, soon.
Also, David is producing a long-form CampVJ film that illustrates the potential of Web Video journalism and the training styles that connect with print journalists. Something unique to consider as we grow and expand our skills.

And we are not doing this alone. Camp VJ is not just immersive, mashed-up training but a community of like-minded souls. At the request of students who attended CampVJ Chicago - David and I have just launched a NING site at CampVJ.com.

Join us, won’t you please?

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Read all the live-reports that were produced in Canada this week as part of my seminar tour of Calgary, Vancouver and Prince George.

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Art Institute, April 8-9, 2008: Speakers and delegates from the Sustainable Manufacturing (GreenPower Conferences) meet in Chicago to share best practices for lowering carbon impact in manufacturing sectors.

I was really glad to get this assignment to shoot a short-film documentary from a conference that has global impact, in more ways than one. So yesterday I filmed and reported from the Loop, the grounds of The Art Institute where dozens of managing directors from global companies shared their success and strategies for reducing their carbon emissions, reducing energy usage, saving money and shaping social policy. Normally I only get hired to report from journo conventions, so this was a nice departure - to be the ONLY journalist at a gathering.

So, this is solo VJ, one man, one camera, one tripod, one wireless lav and one laptop with FCP.
You want to learn how to do it too? Come to the video training that Visual Editors is producing in Chicago next month.

Here’s the sign-up details from the non-profit’s site.

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Warsaw:
A quick-turnaround video and slideshow from today’s talks in Warsaw with publishers and editors at the PressForum conference.

The focus for today was to illustrate strategies for launching and relaunching print titles in tabloid format at PressForum, the gathering of Poland’s magazine and newspaper press.

Video of Robb speaking by
Still frame photos by Waldemar Kompała, Gazetta.pl

Thanks for the art!

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A small tour of a very large editorial design house - KircherBurkhardt in Berlin.

UPDATE:
Listen to the Podcast interview with Lukas Kircher

Managing change


Berlin: Robb Montgomery of Visual Editors interviews Lukas Kircher, the principal founder of the editorial design house KircherBurkhardt.



They discuss the process and strategies necessary for changing the company culture at publishing firms.

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I am in Zagreb all week running a workshop for editors from the paper 24Sata.
Here is a short clip showing how locals pay for a tram ride with their mobile phone.

View Larger Map

A slide show from the multimedia department of 24SATA

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A few seconds of video that was captured by delegates attending today’s lecture.

And below are bookmarks to some of the research Robb shared with the audience.

Presentation links

TheStar.com - 2 global warming 0,000 sttill images

The Raw File Video blogs

Robb Montgomery video

ScobleShow: Videoblog about geeks, technology, and developers

NHPrimary.com: Romney meets McCain supporters

Naka and Nick Kristof | New York Times Video

Indy colts and star - don’t call it video

ErieTube Video - Elk creek Fishermen by erietube

QIK | Streaming video right from your phone

©Vlog Butterfly™

Butterfly vlog: bloggers remotely interview BBC’s Peter Horrocks - Editors Weblog

Pew Internet: Video Sharing

BBC- Viewmagazine Vlog Butterfly‚Ñ¢

Multimedia Training

Bolshevik protests in Kremlin during world newspaper summit at A Visual Editors blogger

SFGate: Matt Petty

Ira Glass on Storytelling

Improving web video - Three S’s Part 1:Sequences¬†by¬†andydickinson.net

Wallstrip

BBC Training & Development > Good Shooting Guide: the basic principles - Online course details

10 Things I’d Teach New Reporters

YouTube -JT - Police arrest bank robber hiding in storm drain

Photog snow plow brady lane

The Monte Carlo Burns - Las Vegas Sun

Detroit Mayor Lies Under Oath

Wired 14.12: The Secret World of Lonelygirl

Bat loose in newsroom, 9.27.07

Winter twister tears through Boone - Rockford, IL - Rockford Register Star

Violin in Metro - Pearls Before Breakfast - washingtonpost.com

Wired 14.12: The Secret World of Lonelygirl

Tutorials on Video | Knight Digital Media Center

Video Shooting Tips

News Videographer - Angela Grantsmartboxcore.js

Motionbox: Videos

NBC5.com - My Video (Motionbox)

Vimeo. Because everyone shouldn’t see everything.

San Jose Mercury News Video -

onBeing - washingtonpost.com

HV20 Mini DV HD DVD Camcorder

The Great HD Shoot-Out - Canon HV20, Sony HDR-HC7, Panasonic HDC-SD1, JVC GZ-HD7 - HD Camcordersß

Sony HVR-A1U HDV Camcorder

NFB Filmmaker-in-Residence

Wired 14.12: The Secret World of Lonelygirl

VUVOX

I will be taking the train from Koldiing to Hamburg and then onto Berlin where I will work next.

I love trains, so seven hours on the rails is my reward!

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]]> http://www.robbmontgomery.com/2008/02/video-danish-newspaper-mediakonfencen/feed/ http://www.robbmontgomery.com/2007/12/video-extreme-mobile-journalism-reporting/ http://www.robbmontgomery.com/2007/12/video-extreme-mobile-journalism-reporting/#comments Tue, 11 Dec 2007 16:07:11 +0000 Robb Montgomery http://www.robbmontgomery.com/home/2007/newspaper/design/12/extreme-mobile-journalism-reporting/

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German journalist and competitive yachtsman, Joerdis Guzman is filing daily multimedia reports for a Berlin newspaper from the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. She is using nothing more than a laptop, a point and shoot camera and a balky Iridium satellite phone. Guzman files daily multimedia reports from the scene of the worlds largest transocean race for Die Welt.

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]]> http://www.robbmontgomery.com/2007/12/video-extreme-mobile-journalism-reporting/feed/ http://www.robbmontgomery.com/2007/11/so-you-want-to-be-a-interactive-multimedia-video-journalist/ http://www.robbmontgomery.com/2007/11/so-you-want-to-be-a-interactive-multimedia-video-journalist/#comments Mon, 26 Nov 2007 02:37:30 +0000 Robb Montgomery http://www.robbmontgomery.com/home/2007/newspaper/design/11/so-you-want-to-be-a-interactive-multimedia-video-journalist/ So you want to be a interactive multimedia video journalist?
Viewmagazine.tv’s creator David Dunkley Gyimah created this trailer for what he calls the “Mi6 Videojournalist Manifesto.”

I simply call the work we did in Cairo the work of two “fully-trained” journalists.

It’s really cool to see how he mashed up the assets from our battery operated cameras (His Sony a1U and my Lumix LX-2 and the audio from my Zoom H4. We are still working towards having the tutorial film done - but this clip sets the stage.

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]]> http://www.robbmontgomery.com/2007/11/so-you-want-to-be-a-interactive-multimedia-video-journalist/feed/ http://www.robbmontgomery.com/2007/11/is-final-cut-express-the-right-fit-for-most-newsrooms/ http://www.robbmontgomery.com/2007/11/is-final-cut-express-the-right-fit-for-most-newsrooms/#comments Fri, 16 Nov 2007 16:02:51 +0000 Robb Montgomery http://www.robbmontgomery.com/home/2007/newspaper/design/11/is-final-cut-express-the-right-fit-for-most-newsrooms/

From the wires comes news of an upgrade to a video editing tool that may be a killer app for news manangers with tight budgets, and new flash memory cameras that capture HD video in the new AVCHD format.
Final Cut Express
This just in:

Final Cut Express 4, Apple’s latest update of its desktop video-editing application for “prosumers,” adds support for newer cameras and file formats. It also makes a compelling upgrade for Mac users feeling abandoned by iMovie

I know I feel abandoned by the latest iMovie upgrade and while, Final Cut is great, it is also overkill for many projects and more than a bit intimidating to noobies.

I am often asked by clients to tailor high quality solutions to match low-ceiling budgets. And this is where the rubber meets the road. $199 is the right price, you get enough of Final Cut’s editing tools to aid in everyday editing tasks without having to go bonkers for the full kit that only a few on your staff probably actually need. This means you can heave a full-powered video editor on more of your, uh, editor’s desks.

The caveat is that for AVCHD support, you have to have an INTEL machine. You will want all the power you can grab for daily video editing anyway.

This graph in the Wired story made us laugh and cringe at the same time.

FCE4 also packs in over 50 new FxPlug filters, like Soft Focus and Light Rays, for when you really want that After School Special look in your HD movies.

The horror.

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]]> http://www.robbmontgomery.com/2007/11/is-final-cut-express-the-right-fit-for-most-newsrooms/feed/ http://www.robbmontgomery.com/2007/11/youtube-high-quality-videos-coming-in-three-months/ http://www.robbmontgomery.com/2007/11/youtube-high-quality-videos-coming-in-three-months/#comments Thu, 15 Nov 2007 19:59:21 +0000 Robb Montgomery http://www.robbmontgomery.com/home/2007/newspaper/design/11/youtube-high-quality-videos-coming-in-three-months/ According to a CNET report, YouTube officials confirmed that high-quality YouTube video streams are coming soon. The most interesting tidbit comes at the end:

. . . in YouTube’s internal archive, all video is stored at the native resolution in which it was sent in.

Well, that WILL be interesting. I prefer to upload h.264 encoded films at 480px and they look really crappy on You Tube and not elsewhere.

Let’s compare two clips of an HD documentary clip that was recently made with David Dunkley Gyimah in Cairo.
Note: I have uploaded the same 22.8 MB file at 480×270 (h.264-encoded) to Blip.tv and You Tube.
So, I guess the real test will be to revisit this blog in three months times to see if the quality in the YouTube version improves.

BLIP

Click To Play

YOUTUBE

I am pleased to learn that I will not have to re-upload to get my vids looking sharper on YouTube. Time will tell, of course. Check this post in three months to see if the quality is closer to the original.

Does this signal broader support for h.264 delivery on YouTube?
YouTube, on the iPhone, as you may recall does not use the Flash player to stream videos. Flash is not at all supported on the iPhone. The You Tube vids that play on the iPhone are h.264 encoded. So I will be curious to see how this higher-res delivery scheme will play out on Web browsers and other mobiles.

Thoughts?

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]]> http://www.robbmontgomery.com/2007/11/youtube-high-quality-videos-coming-in-three-months/feed/ http://www.robbmontgomery.com/2007/10/best-video-compression-settings-for-you-tube/ http://www.robbmontgomery.com/2007/10/best-video-compression-settings-for-you-tube/#comments Mon, 01 Oct 2007 21:03:03 +0000 Robb Montgomery http://www.robbmontgomery.com/home/2007/newspaper/design/10/best-video-compression-settings-for-you-tube/ Let’s say you are going to be in New England making movies amidst the fall color next week . . Nice, right?

Wouldn’t it be great if that video could actually look good on You Tube - instead of how it normally does?
Below, one set of Hollywood cinema experts share their settings.

If you were at the “Web Video is not TV” workshop last week at the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association you would have learned about better video hosting options and QT settings to use for people who don’t enjoy a 100 MB upload limit or poorly compressed video. (You Tube’s limitation)
At PNA, we discussed what makes a go of good video playback on Blip and Brightcove, but first let us try to see if we can improve for the old You Tube.

The LA Final Cut Pro Users Group has a tutorial.
If your boss demands to see it on You Tube these Quicktime compression settings are supposed to you get the most of your crisp High-Def clips without cringing. Let’s give it a test drive.

Couple of key thoughts here from the LA filmmakers. Don’t make your output size any larger than 320 wide and use the highest data rate to get your file as close to the 100 MB limit as possible. That means a new workflow for a lot of us who have been used to “setting it 480 and forgettting it” . . let us see if it is worth it.

Here are their settings.

General Purpose Settings - Video up to 6 minutes in length

• H.264 video codec set to 2000Kbits/sec (2Mbits/sec or 250KBytes/sec)
• 320×240 video size (deinterlaced or simply use one field)
• Mono audio with AAC codec at 64 Kbit/sec (or 128 Kbit/sec for stereo)
• Recommended Sample Rate
• Best Encoding Quality

In the “Video Options” select Main Profile and Best Quality (Multi-pass).

These settings will be fine up to 800 Mbits aka 100 MBytes.
At the proposed settings, any file shorter than 6 minutes and 15 seconds will be within YouTube’s 100MB per upload limit.

To calculate the ideal setting for videos longer than this, visit the LA FCP group Web site.

BEFORE

This version was output last year using the QT PRo preset “Save as . . . Movie for iPod.”
it made a 5.5 MB .m4v file.

AFTER

This version was saved today using high data rate settings out of QT PRO.
The file size is 14 MB.

Hmm. I respect their thinking, but I just have to ask . . . How does that quality compare to a 4.7 MB version of the file (output at my usual 480 pixels wide/650k data rate) dropped on . . .

Blip.tv

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Yep. That’s what I thought.

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]]> http://www.robbmontgomery.com/2007/10/best-video-compression-settings-for-you-tube/feed/ http://www.robbmontgomery.com/2007/09/robb-headbutts-a-camel/ http://www.robbmontgomery.com/2007/09/robb-headbutts-a-camel/#comments Thu, 27 Sep 2007 18:06:47 +0000 Robb Montgomery http://www.robbmontgomery.com/home/2007/newspaper/design/09/robb-headbutts-a-camel/

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Tarek Atia films Robb Montgomery riding a camel near the Great Pyramids in Giza, Egypt.

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]]> http://www.robbmontgomery.com/2007/09/robb-headbutts-a-camel/feed/ http://www.robbmontgomery.com/2007/09/media-mashups-podcast-slideshow-and-video/ http://www.robbmontgomery.com/2007/09/media-mashups-podcast-slideshow-and-video/#comments Sat, 15 Sep 2007 21:15:59 +0000 Robb Montgomery http://www.robbmontgomery.com/home/2007/newspaper/design/09/media-mashups-podcast-slideshow-and-video/ CAIRO: Here’s variations on a theme to illustrate what can be produced out in the field with a portable pro audio recorder and a hybrid point and shoot camera.
No Flash coding. No ‘Soundslides’ and no Final Cut Pro - just squeezing maximum technique out of low-tech field tools and free, built-in software.

1) Podcast - audio only

2) Slideshow - Podcast audio plus still frame only slideshow

3) Videoslide - Podcast audio plus still frames intermixed with short video clips

Podcast

This first file is the audio-only podcast - recorded on a Sampson H4 four-track unit using two, small condensor lav microphones purchased for $10 each in Cape Town. These mics clip to the lapel and are foolproof. Tarek’s car was a hostile audio environment as the road was bumpy, the windows were down and we were surrounded by motorcycles and motor cars moving six lanes across in a space designed only for three.

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Slideshow

The same audio illustrated with a strong picture-edit of still frames only.

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Videoslides

Now we mix in moving pictures intercut with the still frames to add another layer. For this step we moved to iMovie to manage the assets.
This last style is the most flexible and natural for me. It allowed, for example, to mix in some live performance music I had recorded one night and to add a little funny video ender to the piece. For a twenty-minute piece like this I wish I had a few more video clips. Obviously there is a great range of stories that could be told in this ‘Videoslide’ style

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]]> http://www.robbmontgomery.com/2007/09/media-mashups-podcast-slideshow-and-video/feed/ http://www.robbmontgomery.com/2007/09/video-visit-to-akhbar_el-yom-newspaper-in-cairo/ http://www.robbmontgomery.com/2007/09/video-visit-to-akhbar_el-yom-newspaper-in-cairo/#comments Sat, 15 Sep 2007 20:18:11 +0000 Robb Montgomery http://www.robbmontgomery.com/home/2007/newspaper/design/09/video-visit-to-akhbar_el-yom-newspaper-in-cairo/

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Sometimes the journey is the reward. One of the media development partners in Cairo is large publishing house in Egypt - Aakhbar_EL-yom. This short film illustrates the passage from street level to a shoulder-to-shoulder meeting with the chairman of the board, Mr. Mohamed Ahdy Fadly.

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]]> http://www.robbmontgomery.com/2007/09/video-visit-to-akhbar_el-yom-newspaper-in-cairo/feed/ http://www.robbmontgomery.com/2007/09/video-vj-style-news-report-by-david-dunkley-gyimah/ http://www.robbmontgomery.com/2007/09/video-vj-style-news-report-by-david-dunkley-gyimah/#comments Sat, 15 Sep 2007 15:46:50 +0000 Robb Montgomery http://www.robbmontgomery.com/home/2007/newspaper/design/09/video-vj-style-news-report-by-david-dunkley-gyimah/

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CAIRO: This is the final-edited film David produced from the tour we took along el Moez Ledeen Ellah Street in central Cairo. He added voice over narration later on in the edit process and exploded and recombined some of the sequences we shot but, other than that he pretty much had this piece assembled before we even left the scene. Again - all he takes with him is a couple of firelight drives, a $1,500 Sony A1 HDV camera, a 17-Powerbook running Final Cut Pro. He doesn’t monitor his audio with headphones, nor does he tripod any of the shots. This allows him tremendous flexibility to capture video of people and places in their natural environment.

David Dunkley Gyimah’s field reported and produced video report from Cairo. Filmed in three hours - David demonstrates a VJ style of video technique that resonates with younger, web-centric viewers.

David is back in the U.K. and he has my camera’s “making of video clips” with him. He’ll be assembling a version of this news video that illustrates some of the key concepts he uses when writing, shooting and editing in this VJ style.

To demonstrate the range of what the two fully-trained versatile journalists can produce in the field, the next post in this blog will contain a few multimedia story components of a hybrid nature. A podcast and the multimedia variations that can be created using slideshows and video mashups.

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]]> http://www.robbmontgomery.com/2007/09/video-vj-style-news-report-by-david-dunkley-gyimah/feed/ http://www.robbmontgomery.com/2007/09/video-mdp-conference-david-dunkley-gyimah/ http://www.robbmontgomery.com/2007/09/video-mdp-conference-david-dunkley-gyimah/#comments Tue, 11 Sep 2007 08:36:09 +0000 Robb Montgomery http://www.robbmontgomery.com/home/2007/newspaper/design/09/old-cairo/